


Like A River To The Sea

by laxis



Category: Free!
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Humor, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-02
Updated: 2014-04-03
Packaged: 2018-01-17 22:41:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,620
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1405189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laxis/pseuds/laxis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of HaruRin stories I plan on writing :)</p><p>Excerpt from chapter 1:<br/>"What's that?", Haru asks flatly when the red-haired kid finally manages to pull it  out with great effort and almost falls flat on his bottom as a result. Rin exhales loudly and pats the monstrosity of a thing, seemingly as relieved about finally excavating it as if he had just swum a marathon.<br/>"Just my pillow", he replies with a toothy grin. And what a huge pillow it is.<br/>"You brought your own pillow?"<br/>"Um, yeah, I have trouble sleeping without it." Rin replies sheepishly and rubs his head a bit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Pillow

"So, where do you want to sleep, Rin-chan? I can get out the futon for you or you could share the bed with Haru-chan."

"Uwah, can I?"

Haru feels like if he was someone who showed his emotions easily, he'd probably be prone to be rolling his eyes just about now. As it is, he just stares as blankly as ever. He has to admit that inwardly, he is probably a bit amused by Rin's seemingly never ceasing enthusiasm. Just a tiny weensy little bit, though. The grinning red-haired boy now turns to him as if he wanted his affirmation. Haru just shrugs. 

"Whatever, there should be enough space for both of us", he says, not feeling any preference either way. His grandma nods, a smile lighting up on her wrinkly face. 

"Then I'll leave you both to it. If you need anything, you know where to find me. Good night, Haru-chan and Rin-chan."

"Good night!" 

"Good night."

"Hee hee, your granny is really nice!"

"Yeah."

Haru's already ready to go to bed - they were already dressed in their pajamas, too - when he notices that Rin doesn't make any moves to get to bed whatsoever. Instead, he lingers where his bag is and tries to pull something out. That something is apparently stuck inside and refuses to budge.

"What's that?", Haru asks flatly when the red-haired kid finally manages to pull it out with great effort and almost falls flat on his bottom as a result. Rin exhales loudly and pats the monstrosity of a thing, seemingly as relieved about finally excavating it as if he had just swum a marathon.

"Just my pillow", he replies with a toothy grin. And what a huge pillow it is.

"You brought your own pillow?"

"Um, yeah, I have trouble sleeping without it." Rin replies sheepishly and rubs his head a bit.

Apparently, Haru must have some kind of skeptical expression on his face, because Rin adds: "Don't worry, I'll share with you! It's really fluffy, you'll see."

Haru doesn't feel like he wants to get to know Rin's pillow that much, and he still has to get over the funny picture that presents himself. With the pillow practically half Rin's size, he almost frowns when the boy walks over to the bed with it. He puts it down (they have to put Haru's pillow aside since it's so big there's not enough space for both of them) and they both fall down unto it almost simultaneously.

Haru has to admit, it really IS super fluffy. He folds his arms over his stomach while Rin lets them fall over his head, taking up a lot more space than someone his size should be able to.

"Hey, your mattress feels really different! Not as hard as mine", Rin says and that's just so HIM, even commenting on something trivial as that and being enthusiastic about it, too.

"Hmm", Haru retorts. He's tired, so he doesn't reply with much - not that he's usually that talkative. He was never one for many words, a quality that his granny sometimes wishes he would change. 'At least *try* to make new friends', she'd say, but ultimately she would smile and shake her head. That was just the way he was and she knew it. She had been glad when she had gotten to know Rin the first time, probably thinking it a small miracle that someone besides Makoto would get along with him.

"So... uh, thanks for letting me stay over. " Rin rolls over to lie on his side and to look directly at Haru who just lies on his back impassively, his eyes wandering over to match Rin's gaze.

"The food your grandma made was so tasty, too!"

"Not enough mackerel, though."

Rin laughs at that and turns back to stare at the ceiling. 

"Today was really fun. I hope we can do a sleepover again, soon!" 

Haru is not sure if he's just imagining, but he thinks that there is some kind of different, not solely happy tone to Rin's words now. He looks at the boy, but he can't see anything sad in his expression and isn't able to quite put what his tone is, anyway. His eyes almost fall shut by themselves, he's that tired, so he just replies: "Sure. Good night."

"Good night... Nanase."  
He doesn't see the way Rin eyes him anymore, immediately drifting off when he closes his eyes.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

When Rin moves to Australia, he takes his pillow with him. Somehow, the thought of it being the same one that he and Haru had shared during better days comforts him. But he soon realizes that the pillow doesn't help him fall to sleep easily anymore and even the imagined scent of his friend disappears after a while. Over his time of isolation and frustration, he more often than not wakes up to find his pillow wet. He thinks about tossing it more than once, but somehow he can never bring himself to do it, clinging to it as if it was the only thing connecting him and his once so precious childhood memories which constantly feeling torn about whether to bury them or treasure them.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

It's years later when he is at Haru's again, finally, after all that has happened between them, staring at that very same ceiling, although from a different spot than he did all those years ago. He is sleeping on the floor after all, even though Haru had teasingly offered him to share the bed again. The thought alone makes him almost blush; not only because of what sleeping together could now easily insinuate, but because it was *Haru* out of all people who had actually teased about it.

Still, they had a lot of fun today and it makes him glad from the bottom of his heart that he was able to experience the day together. And somehow, it just feels.... right. They had their fair share of struggle, but also their share of laughter and it seems to him as if this day alone was already enough to make it all worthwhile, with the promise of more to come.

He sighs happily, turning to his side and looking at Haru's currently empty bed. The guy did finally go to take his bath after all and just thinking about the whole incident with Haru's... magazine... makes him almost want to snicker at the absurdity of the situation. He closes his eyes and when he almost immediately falls into a slumber, it's with a smile.

This time, it's Rin who doesn't get to see Haru reappearing and the fond expression on his face when he says: "Good night... Rin."

Only the next morning, when they wake up early to prepare to jog does Rin realize again how... new this all seems to him, waking up next to his friend without feelings of worry, just feeling... free. It's something he could definitely get used to.

"Morning", Haru murmurs sleepily when he finally opens his eyes and rubs at them. 

"Good morning", Rin retorts more loudly.

"... did you sleep okay?", Haru asks and yawns, his usually perfectly straight hair just a bit curled and Rin has to suppress a grin at that bedhead.

"Yeah, just fine, and you?" It's weirdly considerate of him to ask it, not that he's complaining.

"Me too. I meant... without your pillow", Haru adds and Rin almost stutters. 

"You remember something like that?!", he asks bewildered. Haru nods.

"You said you couldn't sleep without it." He meets his gaze head-on. Rin sighs and shakes his head.

"I... guess I just don't need it anymore. Come on, let's get ready", he says and gets up.

As he brushes his teeth, he thinks about the truth in his statement. Somehow, it had all just felt so homely with Haru that he hadn't even thought about his pillow. Not that he'd EVER admit out loud that he even considers bringing his own pillow at his age. Or that he thinks that way about staying here, for that matter. He catches sight on the dolphin toy they had talked about the previous day. Well, it's not like Haru'd be one to judge him though. His lips can't help but curl into a smile which probably gives a ge while he's brushing his teeth. Next to him, Haru just brushes his teeth monotonously, giving him a look.


	2. Sigh

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Makoto has some visitors... they're not behaving all that well.

Makoto sighed loudlessly. 

He had finally tucked his siblings into bed, their want for affection and attention usually enough to warrant his smile (although it sometimes felt a little forced to him and made his cheeks hurt). They were pretty cute, though not so much when it was a)already late on b) his free day when - and this was the major one - c) he had some friends over.

Makoto rubbed his sore shoulder and a smile did finally spread on his cheek when he thought about the phrasing. Friends... plurale. It had been a while since more than just Haru had come over to his house, because even with their swim club they mostly met up elsewhere, the amount of people (especially the smaller ones) living there and the liveliness associated with it exactly one of the reasons why they preferred other places. 

But it was not just any friends... Haru and Rin. Rin who he had - of course - welcomed back with open arms once the redhead had overcome his initial problems with him and the rest of the crew. It hadn't been long since then, but it already felt natural and... beautiful, as Rei would have put it. So, the three of them had decided to watch a movie and only finished about halfway when his siblings decided to go out of control which had forced him to deal with them.  
He really couldn't wait to see how it would go on... and if Rose would finally elope with Jack. It probably was a small miracle, but both him and Haru hadn't seen the movie yet, so they had democratically decided to pick it out of the bunch of DVDs Rin had brought (he had the feeling that the cover that featured a wide ocean had had something to do with the decision too, judging by Haru's sparkling eyes).   
Another bigger miracle was probably how well they all got along now, the fact sweet enough to warm his heart.  
With a renewed vigor to his steps, Makoto climbed up the stairs to the second floor and was about to reach his room when he heard voices coming out of it.

"That's it! I've had it up to here with you!"

That was Rin. He didn't mean to eavesdrop, he really didn't, but he automatically froze a bit, the next words coming out immediately afterwards clearly by Haru, but almost as equally agitated - or at least they counted as that if you knew Haru and his usually monotone way of speaking.

"I agree. This is not working out."

What were they arguing about? And just when he had thought he could leave them alone for a moment...

"I thought I could TRUST you!" 

Rin speaking again, the emotional tone making something inside Makoto clench. It reminded him too much of their encounter during the swim tournament before they reconciled.

"I could say the same about you", Haru retorted and Makoto had to frown at that. Sure, Haru wasn't the chattiest type, but when he talked, he was usually very honest. Still, now it almost sounded as if he was... pouting?

"You said we should try this out while Makoto was gone."

By then, Makoto wasn't so sure anymore if he even wanted to know what they were doing (he did). He had a bad feeling that got increasingly worse and stepped closer to the door.

"I did."

He was standing just before of the door to his own room now, hand about to pull down the door handle, when the next words made him freeze.

"Then don't act like a jerk about it just because you're more experienced!"

That was... unexpected.

"Well, I can't help it if I've already tried it out with Makoto." Makoto blinked. Wait, what? Just WHAT were they talking about?

"Yeah yeah, just rub it in my face. No, wait, you might actually do it. Just keep your fucking hands to yourself for once!"

Now he *definitely* wanted to know what was going on, feeling the sweat beginning to pool on his forehead.

"But that's what this is all about."

He took one deep breath, ready to enter.

"Sure, is that what you say when you grab him, too?"

Okay, that was it! Boldly, Makoto opened the door, making the poor thing utter cluttering noises of protest. He stared wide-eyed at the scene in front of him.  
Both his friends were on his bed, their eyes moving to him when he entered.

"Ah, finally, you're here again, Makoto. Will you tell this moron that it's not fair to use the same move over and over again?", Rin complained and Makoto followed his gaze to the TV. The others were already staring intensely at the screen again, their attention completely on the battle that took place on it.

At the moment, Rin's custom made character - some kind of pirate that wielded a katana, it seemed - kicked Haru's fistfighter... who was named Free, go figure. Free quickly turned to counter though and grabbed Rin's pirate to throw him. 

"You're doing it again!!" Rin exclaimed angrily. "Stop fucking grabbing me!"

He fumed as the energy bar dropped to zero and the Soul Calibur narrator announced his loss. He turned to Makoto, exasparated, loosening the grip on his controller. 

"That's not fair, right? And before, he even rammed me off the stage after promising he wouldn't do it again."

He shot Haru a distrustful look, which was met by a calm, but at the same time stubborn one that said 'why don't you go cry me a river'.

"The water in that stage just looked too inviting", Haru explained deadpan.

"Why don't you fucking jump in yourself next time, then?!"

"It's much more difficult to move my character off the raft by purpose." 

"It is NOT."

"... it's easier to kick you out, then."

"Why you...!"

Makoto held up his arms, a nervous chuckle on his lips. 

"Hey, don't fight over the game. Whatever happened to watching the movie, anyway?" 

Rin lightly tossed the controller onto the bed before listlessly dropping unto it himself and closing his eyes, his back thumping on the mattress with a dull sound. 

"It got boring. You know they're all going to die, anyway." He tried to wave it off, but somehow it came off unconvincingly, especially since to Makoto, Rin didn't seem like the type who would not be moved by a movie like Titanic.

"The water did look nice, though", Haru contemplated.

"You do know that they're freezing to death in there, right?"

Rin opened one eye to scrutinize Haru skeptically. Haru opened his mouth, but Rin cut him off before he could, waving his hand. "Anyway, I told you, we should have watched Sharknado instead. 

That movie is awesome."

"I still don't get why the sharks are not in water, though." Haru looked as it was really a question that bothered him - which it probably did, considering his hydrophile nature.

"That's the best thing about it!" Rin sat up, but at Haru's look, he added: "Or we just play another game."

"Makoto has Mario Kart. We can pick Peach Beach as a stage."

"Then I'll pick Bowser. I play to win, after all."

Makoto sighed loudlessly. 

It seemed like he had to watch the continuation of Jack and Rose's story another time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and some gumdroppoints to anyone who catches the 50% Off reference~ :D

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed it so far. The present day part is inspired by the RinHaru Drama CD (go listen to it if you haven't yet!! =D ). Feel free to leave comments, even if it's (constructive) criticism.  
> BTW, I'm looking for a beta reader, so if anyone wants to do it, I'd appreciate it!~ ^^


End file.
